For the past several decades, the scaling of features in integrated circuits has been a driving force behind an ever-growing semiconductor industry. Scaling to smaller and smaller features enables increased densities of functional units on the limited real estate of semiconductor chips. For example, shrinking transistor size allows for the incorporation of an increased number of memory or logic devices on a chip, lending to the fabrication of products with increased capacity. The drive for ever-more capacity, however, is not without issue. The necessity to optimize the performance of each device becomes increasingly significant.
Integrated circuits commonly include electrically conductive microelectronic structures, which are known in the arts as vias, to electrically connect metal lines or other interconnects above the vias to metal lines or other interconnects below the vias. Vias are typically formed by a lithographic process. Representatively, a photoresist layer may be spin coated over a dielectric layer, the photoresist layer may be exposed to patterned actinic radiation through a patterned mask, and then the exposed layer may be developed in order to form an opening in the photoresist layer. Next, an opening for the via may be etched in the dielectric layer by using the opening in the photoresist layer as an etch mask. This opening is referred to as a via opening. Finally, the via opening may be filled with one or more metals or other conductive materials to form the via.
In the past, the sizes and the spacing of vias has progressively decreased, and it is expected that in the future the sizes and the spacing of the vias will continue to progressively decrease, for at least some types of integrated circuits (e.g., advanced microprocessors, chipset components, graphics chips, etc.). One measure of the size of the vias is the critical dimension of the via opening. One measure of the spacing of the vias is the via pitch. Via pitch represents the center-to-center distance between the closest adjacent vias. It is to be appreciated that with scaling to smaller vias, scaling to smaller non-conductive spaces or interruptions between metals lines (referred to as “line ends,” “plugs” or “cuts”) connected by vias may also need to be performed.
When patterning extremely small line ends (plugs or cuts) with extremely small pitches by such lithographic processes, several challenges present themselves, especially when the pitches are around 70 nanometers (nm) or less and/or when the critical dimensions of the line ends are around 35 nm or less. Also, as line end pitches scale ever smaller over time, the overlay tolerances tend to scale with them at an even greater rate than lithographic equipment is able to keep up.
Another such challenge is that the critical dimensions of the line ends generally tend to scale faster than the resolution capabilities of the lithographic scanners. Shrink technologies exist to shrink the critical dimensions of the line ends. However, the shrink amount tends to be limited by the minimum line end pitch, as well as by the ability of the shrink process to be sufficiently optical proximity correction (OPC) neutral, and to not significantly compromise line width roughness (LWR) and/or critical dimension uniformity (CDU).
Yet another such challenge is that the LWR and/or CDU characteristics of photoresists generally need to improve as the critical dimensions of the line ends decrease in order to maintain the same overall fraction of the critical dimension budget. However, currently the LWR and/or CDU characteristics of most photoresists are not improving as rapidly as the critical dimensions of the line ends are decreasing.
A further such challenge is that the extremely small via pitches generally tend to be below the resolution capabilities of even extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithographic scanners. As a result, commonly two, three, or more different lithographic masks may be used, which tend to increase the costs. At some point, if pitches continue to decrease, it may not be possible, even with multiple masks, to print line ends for these extremely small pitches using EUV scanners.
Thus, improvements are needed in the area of line end manufacturing technologies.